


Demon Days

by eggsinsunnyside



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, It's gonna be trashy, Monster Tom, Non-Chronological, Slice of Life, fluffs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-11-09
Packaged: 2019-01-21 08:16:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 14,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12453297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eggsinsunnyside/pseuds/eggsinsunnyside
Summary: A series of oneshots that are about how being a demon has its own problems too, and that it's not as cracked up as most people thinks. Well, usually.





	1. Teeths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cleaning your teeth is so much more troublesome

You think being a demon is fun, Tom would argue otherwise. 

It came with so many responsibilities that he could honestly do without, but reality is an asshole that likes to throw him a flood of problems with no break. Even had to include his own biology into the fray which made the whole thing troublesome too.

“Fuckin-” Tom cursed to himself when his fingers slip away from his monstrous teeth, missing the little bits of flesh wedged between his canines. Trying to clean your teeth with only the bathroom mirror and your fingers is much harder than it looks.

You see, things often got stuck between his teeth while he was in his shifted form, and they certainly don’t disappear when he starts to turn back into his normal self. 

Like now. 

His tail had already shrunken into nonexistence and his fingers were back to being mostly blunt. The horns were just tiny purple nubs that were hidden well by his spiky brown hair. The teeth was always the last to go and the first to appear, which made it both hassle and a blessing for Tom. Bonus time for him to clean the mess out of his mouth and very annoying when he didn’t manage to make it in time.

The brit could still remember the pile of broken toothpicks filling up the garbage bin the last time he didn’t manage to clean his teeth in time before it shrunk back to his regular human ones. He tries his best to avoid that scenario again because it was really difficult to explain himself to Edd about it.

The eyeless Brit inhaled sharply before staring hard at the mirror and slowly started to try pick out the annoying flecks of skin settled in the small niches of his teeth. It’s okay, he wouldn’t be completely shifting back just yet. He still has time to work out the issue.

“Tom are you done in the bathroom yet?” Edd yelled from behind the door, eliciting a startled yell from Tom. 

Fuck.

“Tom, everything alright there?” Edd’s voice calls out again, concern and the eyeless brit hastily yanks his fingers out of his mouth.

“Pleh- Yeah, everything’s fine Edd.” Tom replied, licking his sharp teeth out of reflex and gags at the taste of flesh on them. His voice sounded off from having things inside his mouth and no doubt Edd noticed because the door knob was turning.

“Tom what’s going o-” The brunette started, storming into the bathroom and immediately paused at the sight of Tom staring at him, wide socketed with blood stained teeth. Bits of flesh littered the sink and floor, making spots of blood all over the white ceramic. 

To his credit, Edd didn’t freak out. Instead he gave Tom the Look, “I thought you promised to tell us when you having a problem.”

Tom shrank guiltily, averting his gaze from the brunette and mumbled, “It’s nothing you need to be worried about.”

“Oh really.” Edd said flatly, “Is this related to the broken toothpicks?”

“Yes.” The answer comes without a thought and Tom can feel the disappointment from Edd again. 

Edd stared at Tom for a while, taking note of his bloodied monstrous teeth, and the flecks of skin littering the sink and floor. It didn’t take him long to piece together Tom’s current problem and he sighed, “Would you like me to help get the stuff out of your teeth?” When Tom nods at Edd, the brunette gestured at him to sit on the toilet lid. “Wait here, I’ll come back in a bit.”

The artist comes back not too soon with a clean cloth in hand and kneels in front of Tom, pushing the cloth close to Tom’s mouth, “Keep your mouth open while I get all the gunk out.”

The two sit in silence for what seemed like an eternity, Tom doing his best to keep his mouth wide open while Edd scrubbed away the bloody mess that used to be people’s remains. 

It was only when Tom felt his teeth starting to shrink that he tried to speak, or well the best he could with having his jaws hanging, “Edd, hurry up.”

“Just a bit more Tom, I’m almost done with the little bits. Now be quiet and keep your mouth open.” Edd shushed him.

Tom makes an incomprehensible noise that's meant to be a grumble but it's hard when his mouth is wide open and Edd’s fingers is inside, prodding away at the tiny gaps between his teeth. Edd stuck his tongue out in concentration as he carefully scrubs away the little bites of flesh lodged between Tom’s sharpened canines, the rag soiled from blood and flesh. 

Tom swirls his tongue around to try and swallow back his saliva, but with Edd prodding at his sharper teeth, it's difficult to prevent his mouth from watering so much. Tom could practically see the puddle of drool forming on the floor at the long time of not closing his mouth until Edd let out a triumphant cry, pulling away from Tom with the dirty rag. 

“Aaaand all done! You probably should go rinse your mouth now.” Edd beamed at the brit, scrunching up the cloth into a messy ball and throwing it in the bin. Tom mumbled out a thank, briefly licking his canines out of reflex again and noted that they felt flat - normal.

“Huh, just in time too.” He comments, grabbing a cup from the sink and filling it up with the clear water. He was quick to empty the cup in his mouth and spit out its content, watching a few faint lines of red go down the drain along with the water. “Thanks Edd.”

“No problem Tom.” Edd smiled at him cheerfully before he send Tom another Look again, “But you try to hide your problem like that again, I’ll tie you down and make you spill about your secrets then.”

“Yeah yeah mom.” Tom teased as they leave the bathroom while crossing his fingers behind his back, “I promise to tell you if I get another problem.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello and yes, I know I should really be working on Shades instead but I was having a huge brainstorm over Monster Tom's capabilities. So I've just started writing down how Edd and Matt would deal with the habits that comes from being a demon. Tord will probably come in at some point in the distant future.
> 
> If you've got any ideas of what else to add about demon habits, lemme know and I'll see if I can write about it!


	2. Growth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom doesn't shift in the house for a good reason.

Tom rarely shifted in the house, mostly for several good reason. House destruction was one of them.

He hadn’t meant to shift, really. It was the outcome of pent up emotions and a trigger that could be anything at all. In this case, it was a ferret crashing through his window and landing on his face, and all the sudden the room felt so cramped and the ceiling was sporting two new holes. Possibly three. 

Edd was the first to storm into his room, a can of cola in hand and his face being the picture of panic, “Tom, what- Oh my god.” He mumbled out the last part as his head craned up to look at his now purple giant friend. 

“Hey Edd, what’s happening-” Matt asked as he arrived to the scene and stopped just right beside Edd and pointed at the giant elephant in the room, “Oh no, there’s a monster in Tom’s room!”

“Yes. Thanks for pointing that out, except you forget that’s Tom.” Edd drawled, rolling his eyes at Matt. Tom would’ve too if he had any eyes and instead settled for an ired huff. “What’s got you this time?”

Tom grumbled under his breath and pointed at his destroyed window while simultaneously slamming his elbow against the adjacent wall, wincing at the unintended destruction afterwards. Make that four holes in his room now. Edd could only give Tom a questioning glance as the latter began to shrink, horns receding back into his head, sharp claws flattening into blunt fingers, the single empty socket splitting off into two, until finally the familiar eyeless brit stood in its place. 

“A ferret broke into my room.” Tom explained with an indifferent look though he made a face at the several holes he had accidentally made during his brief time as a monster.

“Is this going to be a thing whenever you lose your temper now?” Edd asked quizzingly, taking a sip out of his cola. 

“Probably.” Tom sighed exasperatedly, running his fingers through his spikes. “You sure you don’t want me to move out? Because I doubt we can keep paying the repair bill.”

“Tom, you know we’d never force you to move out because of something you can’t fully control.” The artist assured, walking up to the man in the blue hoodie and putting a hand on his shoulder. 

Tom heaved out a tired sigh, frowning down at the floor“Sometimes wished I didn’t get so big whenever I change.” 

“You ever thought about just staying small though?” Matt suggested, pinching his fingers together to show an example. When everyone stared at Matt curiously, the ginger continued, “Like instead of turning into a giant monster, what if you became a small monster?”

“That wouldn’t be possible. I can only turn into that or this.” Tom refuted, gesturing to himself. “I’ve tried to turn myself small before but when I’m like that, I just turn back to normal. I don’t get a smaller monster size, which would be nice right now.”

Edd hummed to himself in thought as he brainstormed for solutions. Tom did have a point in finances, if he kept losing his temper and destroying the house like this, they wouldn’t have the money to pay for the bills, and eventually they’d all be kicked out. They couldn’t stop him from changing though, it’d be like trying to stop a person from growing up. Or something like that, but the point was there; there was no stopping from something natural to occur. 

He watched Tom and Matt trade suggestions with the latter constantly giving out ideas, and the former pointing out the impossibility behind them. With each refusal, Tom kept biting his lips more often and letting the sharp canines dig into his skin. Edd thought about telling Tom to stop biting his lips since his sharp teeth was always the last to disappear after each transformations-

“I got it!” Edd suddenly exclaimed, snapping his fingers and grinning at his two friends. He pointed at Tom, “Why not go halfway?”

“Edd, I don’t know if that’s even possible.” Tom frowned skeptically, “I can’t just stop changing you know.”

The brunette shook his head and starting gesturing wildly, “No, no I don’t mean as in stop shifting into your monster form every time you get angry because that’d be impossible, we all know that. What I mean is that we’ll get you to shift up to a certain point and say stop, and you got to try and stop yourself at that point. We keep doing that until you get to stopping at a stage where you aren’t fully shifted and then you won’t be breaking the walls all the time!”

Edd only gained more puzzled views at his explanation and sighed, “You know what, just- Tom, try shifting now. When we say stop, you try stop your shifting at that time. Not in here though, we’re doing this outside. We don’t need the repair bill to get any bigger.”

They all gathered to the front yard of the house, Tom on one side of the law, and Edd and Matt on the other. 

“Okay Tom, can you shift right now?” Edd asked out loud, keeping his eyes on the man in the blue hoodie. Tom gave Edd a short curt nod before he hunched over as he began to turn purple. It all happened far too quickly in Edd’s opinion because he didn’t have a chance to say stop when the lawn was taken up by a large beast. “Could you slow it down a bit? You didn’t even let me say stop.”

Tom made a disgruntled noise as he shifted back, poking his tongue out to the brunette when he was mostly human, “Technically you could but you were just too slow.”

“Tom.”

“Okay, okay.” 

They spent the whole evening working on Tom’s shifts. At first, it seemed like there wasn’t any result as Tom would always end up becoming fully shifted even when Edd tried to make him stop at the end of the transformation. Eventually, it got easier though. Tom could stop himself when he was three quarters of his transformation, just a head taller than Edd and more monster like than human. It took a bit longer for Tom to finally stop at the halfway mark when he was mostly humanoid but sported the more notable features of his monster form: the horns, claws and tail. 

“Holy beaches on a banana ball, you actually did it.” Tom breathed as he examined himself, noting that he had grown up to Matt’s height. 

“You mean, you did it.” Edd corrected with a smile, approaching his friend. “You’re the one who’s changing here.”

“Yeah! Now you won’t break walls every time you change.” Matt said cheerfully. Tom opened his mouth to retort when his nose itched and sneezed. As soon as the sneeze left him, all restraints he had on his form was released and within a second, a fully shifted Tom stood in front of the baffled duo. 

“... We should probably work on that.”


	3. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First time Tom ever lost control of his other form

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this when I was being a bit angry earlier today so it probably won't make sense and I'll edit it later.

There’s a huge hole in the wall, plaster and brick scattered all over the ground as what used to be their TV sat in pieces in the lawn. A furious roar tears into the air, the ground shaking from the sheer volume. 

Edd stares up to what he once recognised as his roommate and best friend, frightened chocolate orbs staring at the purple monster who howled and snarled at his presence. The side of his head hurts from being thrown outside and hitting the hard soil. There’s probably a nasty bruise there but at the moment, the possibility of a bruise was at the lowest priority for Edd. The only fact that he could even register this beast as his friend was because of its single empty socket, void of any soul and recognition of what’s around him. 

All there is left is just pure, blinding rage and Edd is in its path. 

The beast leans its head down in front of Edd, socket narrowed into a hateful glare and a deep guttural growl rumbling from the back of its throat. A gasp escapes Edd’s lips as he gets picked up abruptly by a clawed paw and chokes out a pained scream when the grip around his body tightens. He can already feel his bone starting to crack under the pressure, joints popping out and he just prays to the lord above that nothing happens to Matt or Tom after this. 

“Hey monster!” Edd’s eyes snapped open at hearing Matt and looked down to the ruined entrance of the house. The ginger stood tall and brave, a bent golf club in hand for a weapon and glaring daggers at the giant beast. Edd feels cold fear grip his chest and starts to struggle in the monster’s grip, tears starting to prick at the corner of his eyes. His mouth flies open to tell Matt to run away, find help, just get away from the monster before he could get hurt, but another crushing grip squeezed the breath out of Edd’s lung. 

There’s two sharp cracks in the air and Edd screams in anguish when he feels two of his ribs breaking from the squeeze. Tears are freely flowing down his cheek because god damn, does broken bones hurt so much, and he can’t help but sob at the immense pain it brought. He looks at the monster holding him captive and he can just see the glee on its face, pleasure that derived from making him scream in pain and Edd wants to disappear on the spot.

Matt’s screaming bloody murder now, launching himself at the monster with the bent golf club and futilely smacking at its scales with the blunt weapon. “Let him go now! I swear if you don’t let him go now, I’ll make you forever regret it!” He threatened, continuing to whack the golf club against the monster and glaring up at its socket. 

Edd feels a shift in the air and the next thing he registers is being thrown down to where Matt is. There’s another burst of pain as two bodies collide and are sent tumbling on the ground til they hit the house as a mess. Matt is frantically getting on his feet and setting Edd on the ground, worries creasing his face. The artist can barely make out what the ginger is saying but he’s pretty sure it’s somewhere along the line of “Are you okay?!” and “You’re going to alright, Edd,” and he sends Matt a small smile of encouragement. That he’s okay, even if he’s got two broken ribs and a big bruise somewhere on his body. 

There’s a throaty inhuman chuckle that brings the two out of their little moment, and Matt’s back to scowling at the monster. The golf club is in the ginger’s grasp again and Edd is left alone once more as Matt pits himself against the monster. It’s terribly one sided and even Edd can see it through teary eyes. The monster’s toying to Matt, pretending that his golf club is actually affecting it when it’s not doing jack shit. 

Once it decided it has had enough ‘fun’, it picks up Matt so easily like he’s as light as air, and flings him away. There’s a brief cry of pain and a resounding smack of Matt’s head hitting something hard, and Edd watches with growing fear as the monster starts to approach Matt’s crumpled form. His eyes widens when the monster raises a clawed paw and on the ground, Matt starts to regain his conscious again slowly. Edd’s breath hitches in his throat and adrenaline starts to flood into his system. He’s off the ground, all pain ignored and a hand outstretched to the middle between the monster and Matt. 

“TOM NO-!” The words tear out of his throat and an inhuman roar bellowing over his voice. 

There’s a sickening crunch of bones snapping and shattering as Edd is slammed to the ground, crushed underneath the weight of the monster’s palm. It’s a surprise how he hasn’t been splattered into a red gory mess yet, Edd’s numb mind remarks offhandedly like his life isn’t on the life when it is. He doesn’t taste the dirt in his mouth or hear the frantic cries of Matt. Edd watches as the world spins back around to show him the sky and Matt’s face enters his view. There’s unbridled fear in the ginger’s blue eyes, and Edd wants to reach out and pat his friend on the head to assure him that things were going to be okay. Matt’s words starts to blend into a jumbled mess and it starts getting harder to stay awake, Edd realises as his head started to droop. What he wouldn’t give to go to sleep. 

Edd can vaguely make out sirens blaring in the air and several people gathering around him. They pick him up and put him on… something that moves him away from Matt and his home. The artist can blearily make out Matt running at his side, the latter’s mouth still opening and closing far too rapidly for Edd to read his lips. Matt eventually stops following when Edd feels like he’s being tilted upwards for a moment and he gazes out to his wrecked front lawn. 

The last thing he ever sees before the doors close on him was Tom’s horrified expression.


	4. Happy Birthday Edd

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Edd's birthday. Enough said.

This was it. 

Absolute no fucks up were allowed this time or else Edd will never let them live it down ever. 

He and Matt’s been planning this since yesterday. Today, Edd would leave his apartment to restock the fridge with cola for the morning which left Tom and Matt approximately half an hour until the brunette’s return. Ordinarily it’d be impossible to change the house within that much time but it was enough time for the duo who had prepared almost everything the day before. 

Tom run his fingers through his spikes. For once there wasn’t a drop of alcohol in his system yet. He made a promise with Matt that he’d stay sober for the whole of today, or at least until the cake was brought out. Heck he even left his flask back in his apartment and gave Matt his apartment keys just to make extra sure that he’d uphold his words, and he usually didn’t trust the ginger with holding his possessions. Mostly because Matt had a habit of losing people’s possessions such as the time he accidentally flushed the keys to the fridge down the toilet. 

“When’s the loser going to get his butt over?” Eduardo grumbled, crossing his arms in mild irritation. 

“He should be here soon.” Matt remarked, raising his brow as he counted the number of bowls and plates on the kitchen table. “He only went to buy cola right?”

“Yeah-” Tom paused as soft footsteps entered his hearing range and gasped, “Oh shit, he’s here. Everybody position now!”

Time seemed to slow down as there was the sound of the front door being unlocked and the hinges creaking open to reveal a mess of brown hair. “Hey guys I’m back-”

Whatever Edd was going to say, it was all forgotten in the back of the artist’s mind when the house burst into a sea of familiar smiling faces (plus a few select grouchy ones) and a collective shout, “Surprise!”

“Wha-” Edd sputtered, eyes widening in shock and surprise and almost dropping the bag of cola cans, “What’s everyone doing here? Matt? Tom?”

“Come on, you don’t think we’d forget your birthday now, do you?” Tom said, lazily smiling at the brunette. 

“Yeah! While you were out, we got everyone we knew to come over and celebrate your birthday. We even got Eduardo and Mark to come!” Matt said, waving his arm at the two mentioned men. “Don’t worry, they said they won’t try to mess anything up while it’s your birthday and you definitely need the fun.”

Tom patted the brunette on the back, “Don’t get too used to it though, this took a bunch of effort I don’t think I can muster up next year.” Edd made a knowing look at the eyeless brit which elicited an exasperated huff, “No Edd, don’t give me that look- Just go and enjoy yourself for today.”

The brunette simply laughed and set the bag of cola cans on the floor, not before grabbing a can for himself. “Come on, are we going to celebrate or not?”

Tom heaved a sigh of relief, everything was finally in place. Now the only thing he has to watch out for is any potential troubles that rises up, and let Edd and Matt enjoy the party. He picked up a can of cola from the forgotten bag, poking a hole in the lid with a sharp obsidian claw and smiled inwardly. Long before, he wouldn’t be able to do something like this nor would he ever dream about doing it. He would’ve instead pretended like he didn’t have the capability of crushing the can into a pulverized mess and drink the soda like a normal human being.

Except he never was and he’s content with that for now. 

“Tom?” Matt called out, bringing Tom out of his reverie. Tom blinked blankly at the ginger and looked around the apartment briefly. Nothing seemed out of place; Edd was chatting happily with Hellucard and Eduardo was sticking with Mark. So what made the ginger look so worried?

“It’s about Edd.” Matt sighed, voice laced with concern. 

“What’s up with him? He looks pretty fine to me.” Tom frowned puzzledly. 

Matt exhaled heavily and stared at Tom with a strange look, “ I asked what Edd wished for his birthday.”

“So?”

“He wished all of his best friends are here with him.”

“But we’re here though.” Tom pointed out with a bemused tone, “Who else could we be missing?”

Matt pursed his lips worriedly, briefly looking over his shoulder to glance at Edd and back at Tom, “Todd.”

Tom blinked blankly at Matt as he ran through his memories to search for a face. The name was so familiar, he had it at the tip of his tongue but just who was- Oh. “You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”

“On Edd’s birthday? No way.” Matt replied, shaking his head firmly. When Tom continued to stare at Matt, the ginger almost started to shrink under the brit’s gaze, “Please Tom?”

If this was anyone else who had the balls to ask Tom to do this, he would’ve tuned them out the moment they uttered the name. The only reason that he was still listening was because a, this was Edd they were talking about, b, it’s Edd’s birthday and c- well he wanted to have an excuse to screw with Tord anyway.

Tom sighed and held up four fingers in front of Matt, “Give me four hours and I’ll have his ass here.”

* * *

Tord let out a huff of annoyance as he drops the latest reports on his desk. The mission had technically been achieved but at the cost of a quarter of the platoon’s size, which meant Tord would have to play his cards carefully again to recruit more followers and also keep their presence scarce in order to reduce attention.

The Red Army was still a growing faction, nowhere as small as it had been when he had first founded it with just him, Paul and Patryck at his side but they wouldn’t last for a week if they started to attract the government’s attention. 

The Norwegian leaned on his desk and grumbled. He couldn’t wait until his plan finally starts to make good differences in the world. Before he could continue his brooding though, his phone began to ring with the screen showing Paul’s name. “What is it Paul?”

“Sir, we have an intruder in the base.” Was all Paul said when several crashes and explosions began to shake his office. 

Tord frowned and grabbed his handgun off his desk, keeping the phone near his ear. “How the fuck did they get inside? What were our men doing?”

“Well you see, a giant purple monster just barged inside, shrugged off several bullets and is on its way to-” Was all Paul managed to fit in, until suddenly Tord’s office door was ripped off its hinges. Tord let out an undignified shriek when large purple claws grabbed and pulled him out of his office. The sudden movement made him drop his gun and Tord swore under his breath as black and purple filled his sight. He didn’t have time to fully identify who his kidnapper was when the world started to lurch around him, and all the sudden he was outside of the base, in the hands of a giant purple monster as Paul eloquently described it. 

“Sir?! Sir, where are you!?” Paul’s voice cackled in Tord’s ear and the latter realised that he was still holding onto his phone. Why he dropped his gun and not his phone, Tord didn’t have time to contemplate the answer when his kidnapper started to finally slow down, allowing the Norwegian to make out his surroundings and more importantly, the monster that had the balls to snatch him, the Red Leader-

Wait a minute, was it just him or was the monster setting him on the ground and shrinking into a more humanoid form?

Tord’s mouth dropped when sure enough, the massive beast that once had his entire body in its grip was getting smaller and smaller, its shape gradually resembling something more human until finally it stopped changing. Long brown spiky hair with two purple candy corn like horns protruding from each opposite sides, blue hoodie that did little to hide a stubby black tail, two empty voids for eyes - 

Tom gave him the biggest shit eating grin one could ever manage, before snatching Tord’s phone and putting it near his ear. “Hi, this is a kidnapping. I’m taking your Red Leader for today and maybe tomorrow so I’d appreciate it if you don’t get him by then. Goodbye.”

“Tom w-what the fuck?!” Tord managed to get out, barely suppressing his increasing desire to strangle Tom. 

“The only reason I haven’t killed you yet is because Edd wants everyone at his birthday party and for some reason I cannot fathom, he wants you to be there too.” Tom said with a flat stare as he ignored Paul’s indignant sputtering of “what” and “why”, and ended the call. He pushed into a series of numbers on the phone and smiled slightly when the call was picked up, “Hey Matt, I got the commie fucker. Get us over there.”

“Wait what.” Tord sputtered when Tom grabbed his shoulder firmly and suddenly the ground didn’t exist beneath his feet for what felt like an eternity, oh god could he even breathe-

“Tom! Todd! You’re here!” Matt’s voice greets the Norwegian’s ears and Tord’s eyes crack open. He’s in a bathroom with Tom standing beside him and Matt smiling in front of the two. “And just in time too, because Edd’s getting impatient for his cake.”

“Matt?” Tord coughs out and immediately covers his mouth when bile starts to rise in his throat. Tom is quick to direct him to the toilet and Matt pats his back as Tord empties out his recent snack. 

“Yeah Matt, you wanna go bring out the cake now? I’ll get him ready by the time Edd starts blowing out the candles.” Tom suggested. There’s a quiet click indicating the door being closed, leaving Tord alone with Tom, his kidnapper. 

“Ugh. What the hell happened?” Tord groaned, lifting his head from the toilet seat and wiping the saliva off his chin. “Where were we?”

“The space.. Between space?” Tom helpfully supplied, shrugging. “Hell if I know, I never really asked about it.” 

“Then why’d you-”

“It was the only way I could get you here within a four hour time frame.” The eyeless man interrupted, looking down at Tom. “You got anything other than your army thing?” Tord glared at the man for the question and Tom snickered, “Right yeah, whole kidnapping business. Sorry not sorry. Just take your coat off.”

“You know, I’m surprised you haven’t tried killing me yet.” Tord pointed out, raising a brow.

Tom sighed as his horns receded back into his head, “I’ll say it again. The only reason I’m not murdering you on the spot for all the shit you had put us through is because it’s Edd’s birthday and he wants all of his friends with him. For some reason, he still considers you as his friend.” He slid one of his hand in his hoodie’s pocket while holding out the other to Tord, “Until his birthday’s over and you don’t try to ruin his party, I won’t try to maim, poison, slaughter, strangle or basically kill you.”

“What about being sent back?” Tord grunted out, looking up at Tom with narrowed eyes. “I don’t suppose you know a way that can instantly send me back to Norway, do you?”

“If you promise not to ruin Edd’s birthday, I might know a way.” Tom said, pushing his hand in front of Tord. “So do we have a deal or not?”

The Norwegian sighed and shook the brit’s hand, “Fine. I promise not to do anything that’ll ruin Edd’s birthday.”

“Good. See you outside.” Tom said, taking his leave. 

Tord grumbled under his breath, standing up and moving over to the sink. He made a face when he saw the state his hair was in and quickly began to comb down the messy locks. When it was in a more acceptable state, he left his army coat on the towel rack and left the bathroom. Everyone was gathered on the red couch, chattering to each other and no sign of cake anywhere. He thought by now that they’d be bringing the cake out at least- 

“About time.” Tom’s voice cuts in and the brit starts to drag Tord over to the red couch by his arm, “Hey Edd, look who’s come over!”

The whole room starts to quiet down at the exclamation while Edd looks up to the apparent new comer, his smile fading away and eyes widening with surprise. Or shock.

“Tord?” Edd said quietly, slowly standing up from the couch. 

“Er-” Tord sharply inhales and offers up the biggest awkward smile, “Happy birthday Edd?”

Edd’s suddenly hugging Tord and every single fiber of Tord’s being is screaming at him to hurt the intruder who’s pinning him down- 

“You came..! You really came.” Edd said with a wavering tone, tightening the hug on Tord, “You’re not a hallucination right? I”m not dreaming this whole thing up, am I?”

Tord’s smile slips by a fraction at the suggestions, and returns the hug, “No. I’m as real as your cola addiction.”

“I do not have an addiction.” Edd mutters out before releasing the man and smiling widely, “Still, I’m so glad you came over! It’s like my wish came true except I hadn’t even wished on the cake yet. Which Matt hasn’t brought out yet, wonder what’s keeping him.” 

As if by some signal, Matt appeared in the lounge with a box in his hands, “Hey guys, I got the cake!” 

“About time.” Tom said, walking up to Edd and Tord and glances at the two, “Get to the cake, birthday boy.”

Tord watches as everyone gathers around the table, Edd being the only seated one and the cake lit up in front of him.The scene is unfamiliar to the Norwegian - it’s been years since he’s last celebrated a birthday party. The light turns off and the music for ‘Happy Birthday’ starts playing, He cringes inwardly at the terrible singing but Edd’s laughter starts to mix in with the singing, and soon the whole room is filled with a mix of laughter and crap singing. Even Tom starts laughing along with Edd and Matt, and eventually Tord couldn’t resist joining either. Everything felt perfect and nostalgic, a scene that happened so long ago and long overdue. 

“Happy birthday, Edd.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know. I'm two days late but shh


	5. Control II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuation to Control. Tom takes pessimism up to a new level, Matt is concerned and Edd is supposed to be asleep.

The silence is almost deafening, a stark contrast to what it was like not long ago when the agonising screams and monstrous roars filled the air, along with the loud snap of bones breaking.

Tom fingered his flask nervously, rubbing his fingers against the cool metal but made no movement to drink from the flask. Anxiety was fluttering wild in his chest, bringing about a whole new level of stress to the brit and the walls around him suddenly start to feel so much smaller. Whenever he was this anxious, he usually just drank it all away but no amount of alcohol could ever make him less sensitive to the GUILTRAGEANGERHORRORTERRORSHOCK-

Tom bites his lips as he thought this. Knowing that you were the exact cause why both of your best friends were in the emergency room, the reason why Edd was in critical condition and could potentially never wake up - it was no wonder why his thoughts were running rampant because the mere knowledge that he actually did all that terrified him. He could remember the fear that brought him so high up like he was the apex predator, he could remember bones snapping loud and clear in the air and the pain filled scream that woke him up. 

The door swings open to reveal a man maybe around his thirties, dressed in the standard doctor’s coat and a surgeon uniform underneath. “Mr Thompson?” Tom immediately lifted up his head and looked at the doctor’s direction at hearing his call. “One of your friends is awake, Matt Hargrave I believe his name was.”

“A-And.. Edd? Is he awake too?” 

“No, he is still resting.” 

“Oh. Um, thank you.” Tom mumbled out as the doctor takes his leave, stepping in front of the door and hovering his hand over the handle just when anxiety and unease fuels his thoughts once more. There’s not a shred of mercy left as ‘what ifs’ and imagined scenarios filled his head, with each suggestion progressively getting darker and darker and along with it came the fear of what was to be. 

What if Matt never wanted to see him again? Or what if Edd didn’t want to either?

Would they prefer him to leave them like Tord did, away from the house and away from them?

Oh god, they definitely don’t ever want to see his sorry ass again, not after that murder attempt on them. What was he even doing here, who even wanted to see the face of their would-be murderer, someone who was their friend and just turned on them like that? He should be heading back to the house, packing up his shit and get the fuck out of there before he could hurt anyone else and send them to the critical emergency room. They don’t need to have a burden that’s capable of mass destruction and murder, and have to deal with his troublesome existence, he really should be going now-

“Tim?” Matt’s voice calls out from behind the door and Tom is brought out of his trance. The brit gulps audibly nervously and prepared himself mentally as he entered the room. Out of all the four beds in the ward, only two were filled and one of them was hidden behind three screens of curtains. There’s a sharp inhale from Tom when he gives Matt a lookover. The ginger’s hair was all over the place, something that Matt would never allow unless he couldn’t help it.

Matt tries to give Tom one of his charming smile but the bandages on his face makes it difficult for the man to properly express it, “Hey Tim, you came!” 

“Yeah I did.” Tom nodded, taking a seat next to Matt’s bed and smiling half heartedly, “You look terrible.”

“I guess I would after that happened.” Matt chuckled at first but he winces at the pain the sore muscles make. “It’s going to take weeks of beauty sleep to fix up my face.” 

Tom’s smile falls halfway at this and he turns his face to the hidden bed’s direction slightly. 

“How’s Edd?” Matt asked him when he notices where Tom’s looking.

The eyeless brit sighed dejectedly, “Last time I asked, the docs don’t think he’ll be able to leave the hospital for a couple of weeks maybe. I did a huge number on him.” Tom buries his face in his hands and lets out a quiet groan, “I’m so sorry. I fucked up so much and I’m so sorry for doing this to you guys and if you want me to move out, then I can, I’ll just pack everything up and then this won’t happen again anymore, I swear-”

“Tom.” Matt interrupted him quickly before the brit could continue rambling hastily, putting a hand on Tom’s shoulder. “Why would we want you to move out?”

“Oh I don’t know, because I severely hurt you, destroyed bit of the house and caused more destruction than help? There’s also that I still have why I shifted and went batshit crazy, and I couldn’t stop myself from hitting you guys over and over again until all of your bones are broken and you get more brain damage in the head.” Tom ranted, his voice getting louder with each possibilities that he listed and ran his fingers shakily through his messy spikes. 

Vague flashes of the day starts playing in his head and soon enough his entire body was starting to shake from all sorts of emotions flooding his head. “I still don’t know what happened, Matt. The whole of that day, it’s jumbled memories for me. All I know is that I got so angry, so much rage out of nowhere and- and the screams. God Matt, I got so fucking happy from hearing them that I got high off the fear, and I wanted more. I never noticed you guys were suffering while I was like that and it was only after I threw you down to the ground and nearly crushed Edd to death that I got the fucking wake up call. Matt, I could’ve killed you and Edd. What’s going to stop me the next time I snap like that?” Tom looks up at Matt straight in the man’s concerned eyes, and for the first time Matt sees nothing but raw fear on Tom’s face - a sight that Tom would never allow anyone to see. Not even Edd saw him like this and the brunette is closer to Tom than Matt is, admittedly.

There was also how he said a ‘what’, and not a ‘who’. No humans could stop Tom if he snapped like that again, and Matt knew it. He tried to do it with Edd after all, and the two of them were in the hospital because of it, with Edd suffering more of the physical pain than Matt did. Tom didn’t go unscathed either, if that tirade of his was any clue. 

“Hey,” Tom doesn’t take any notice of his name being called until Matt put his hands on his shoulders, “Things will be okay. I’m sure Edd doesn’t blame you for losing control and sending us to the hospital-”

“Thanks Matt, that really helps.”

“But he wouldn’t want you to leave just because of that,” Matt continued, keeping a firm grip on Tom’s shoulder and smiling at him optimistically, “Then things would be more lonely at home. I’m sure there’s a way to fix whatever this problem is.”

“What if there isn’t though?” Tom asked worriedly, “What if there’s no way to fix this, and I make the damage worse? You wouldn’t want your face to be eternally screwed up by me, would you?”

“Of course not.” Matt answered almost immediately, “But Edd will figure something out! He always fixes everything, and don’t say that he won’t because you don’t know that.”

“We don’t know if he can either.” Tom grimaces, folding his arms and smiled mirthlessly. “I can jump back from fatal injuries. I can ignore having all of my bones breaking and shattering. I can shrug off a fuck ton of pain. I can handle being pierced by radioactive laser beams right in the chest and get off from it easy. I _can’t_ die.”

But Edd and Matt can. They don’t have any supernatural qualities he has except the stupid amount of luck that always got them out a pinch. 

“Well Tim, I have you know that we don’t just fall as easy as you say. I mean, remember when our house got possessed?” Matt reminded with a grin. “We all survived that beating, right?” When Tom grunted out a reluctant confirmation, Matt took it as a cue to continue. “And the aliens, they didn’t send us out in space because we got lucky!” 

“More like they died from stupidity.” Tom corrected as he recalled the time, “Matt, where are you even going with this?”

“My point, my good friend, is that no matter what seems to happen, we get through it!” The ginger said, bringing the eyeless man in a tight hug, “Together!”

Tom blanked at the sudden contact, feeling his entire body stiffen slightly before taking on a flat look, “... This feels really out of character for us.”

“Yeah I know right?” Matt agreed, though he didn’t try to break the hug. “I don’t really have any other idea of what to do though.”

“... Thanks Matt. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“No problem Tim!”

“Are you guys always this sappy when I’m not around?”

“Edd, you’re awake!”

“You have exactly five seconds to tell us why you didn’t say you were awake, or else I will throw out your entire cola stash and your lucky can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the continuation as promised. Apologies if it's not up to expectation, I really just word vomitted.


	6. Afraid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tom's scared of the morning.

Tom let out a low grumble when his conscious rose out of slumber, eyelids slowly blinking open to make out the blurry place that is his room. He briefly thought back to the events of yesterday - all a vague jumbled mess of mirrors, cola and… flaming chickens? 

Wait that was his dream, not yesterday. Yesterday was hairballs, panic in the disco and a ban. Or maybe it was the other way around? No, none of them sounded right. Tom groaned exasperatedly, giving up on remembering and rolled onto his side. He stays in bed for a while, and looked up to the ceiling. He tilted his head to the side just slightly to look outside his window, taking in the peaceful scene of the sun rising into the blue sky and birds flying in flocks. A sinking feeling starts growing in his stomach and anxiety begins to fuel his thought.

This morning felt too perfect. 

There were three knocks on the door before he heard Edd’s voice from behind the door, “Hey Tom, are you up yet?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m awake.” Tom sits up on his bed slightly reluctant as the warmth the blankets brought him faded away, letting the cold settle in his skin. “I’ll be down in a moment.” 

Tom’s so used to this morning that he can already picture Edd smiling like an idiot as he heads back downstairs, probably to make sure Matt doesn’t mess up whatever breakfast meal they had made for today. Probably cereal and milk like usual. Edd hadn’t bought bacon since he took on a dare that challenged him to eat a day worth of bacon. To the brunette’s credit, he managed to make it up to the afternoon until he got so sick that Tom had to drive him to the hospital. Now Edd doesn’t bring the chewy meat home anymore. 

Or does he, and Tom just remembers differently? 

Tom shuffled out of his room and slinks into the bathroom, following his usual morning routine until he started to examine the mirror closely. Specifically his reflection. Instead of admiring himself like Matt does on a daily basis, Tom stared at the mirror intensely to look for anything that seemed out of place. Anything at all, whether it was a brief flash of purple or white eyes - something that isn’t meant to be there. A sign that he was still dreaming and that none of this ‘perfect’ day really existed. 

The brit furrowed his brow as nothing of the sort seemed to come to his attention and rolled up his sleeve. He took a brief peek outside of the bathroom, god knows Edd and Matt doesn’t need to see this - less things to stress about in their minds, even if today’s one are part of his dream. 

He glanced up at the mirror again, narrowed empty sockets returning his glare that demanding to know something. “I don’t like you, fuck you anyway. You make me want to scream.” He hisses out before opening his mouth and biting down on his forearm harshly. Canines start to sharpen against the skin, gradually puncturing it and digging into the flesh below. 

Tom keeps biting down, continuing even when pain started blossoming in his arm and his skin broke from his teeth, making blood drip down - plip plop - onto the sink and staining the white porcelain. 

It’s not enough, this isn’t enough to wake him up.

He can feel his bones starting to feel under pressure, fingers curling up into a fist and digging his nails into his palm - he ignores it all in favour of listening to his bone making just the slightest crack. The pain spikes from there and his mind is starting to scream at him to let go, it’s hurting him but it’s not his mind doing the screaming. 

“Tom, what are you doing?!” Edd’s voice suddenly screams in his head and Tom clamps his mouth shut tight out of surprise. The bone snaps and his arm drops uselessly from his jaws, a pained whine escaping his throat. 

God damn, he forgot to lock the bathroom. 

Edd spouting out apologies when he sees Tom’s arm hanging limply at his side and grabbing the brunette’s shoulder to set him down on the floor. “Tom, Tom it’s gonna be fine- Matt, get the ambulance already!” He yelled over his shoulder and stares at Tom with fear and worry. “Why would you do that!?”

Tom blinks at Edd slowly, tilting his head downwards and mumbled, “I’m afraid.” 

He can barely register the pain that’s burning his arm alive.

“Afraid of what?” Edd asked him quietly, loosening his hold on Tom. Tom rarely expressed fear to anyone, and almost never admitted when he was scared. “What’s scares you so much that you have to do.. That?”

“When I wake up, I’m afraid,” Tom started, wrapping his non-broken arm around his legs and curling up in a ball, “Somebody else might take my place.” He whispered so quietly that Edd had almost missed it.

The brunette’s eyes widened at the realisation, his hands slipping off Tom’s shoulder. He pursed his lips for a moment, before enveloping the man in a hug. “This isn’t a dream, Tom. You’re wide awake.”

“I figured by now, with my broken arm.” Tom mutters, biting his lips and letting out a small hiss when his sharp canines pokes pinpricks on his lower lip. “.. You can tell Matt to stop calling the ambulance now. It’ll heal it by the evening anyway.”

“Nope, we’re getting it checked out.” Edd insisted, releasing his friend and frowning. “Fast healing or not. After this, we’re going to have a serious talk.”

Tom let out an exasperated groan, there wasn’t any point in arguing with Edd. The corner of his mouth twitches in amusement though and he looks down at his broken arm. A testament that he was not in fact dreaming as he thought he was, and that he is in complete control. 

He’s not afraid anymore, for now.


	7. Tord hears things

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One night, Tord hears things. Mistakes have been made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is pretty suggestive and ship teasing, and not much/literally no demon parts here yeet. None of it is serious though, or is it. I think.
> 
> Ok this whole chapter is a joke

Nights were usually quiet in the house, keyword being usually. Tord was working on a new invention, a small handheld cube that could expand into a couch, tongue stuck out in concentration when he heard muffled voices. The Norwegian frowned for a moment before shrugging it off, assuming that one of his roommates hadn’t gone to sleep just yet. 

It just got even louder from there. 

The voices grew later, though the walls muted the sounds somewhat. Tord huffed in irritation, setting down his pencil and storming out of his room to give the culprit of the voice a good warning. Probably Tom talking in his drunkenness again. 

When he stopped by in front of Tom’s room though, there was absolute silence. A quick peek inside revealed that the eyeless brit was not inside either. The Norwegian’s frown grew at this, making sure to shut Tom’s door and went back to following the source of the voice. It wasn’t that hard since the only noises in the house were the voices and occasional thumps. 

Eventually Tord ended up in front of Edd’s door where the noises were the loudest and frowned. Edd was usually quiet during the night, and when he was loud, it was often during celebrations or the like. What reason did he have-

“Are you really sure you want to do this?” Edd asked from behind the door. Tord frowned, he didn’t think Edd had brought someone over nor did he notice the front door ever being unlocked. He pressed his ear against the door, and raised his brows higher when another voice joined Edd’s.

“If I didn’t want to, I wouldn’t have come in the middle of the night then to ask you for this.” Tom retorted, followed by a squeak that old springs would make. “Please Edd? I need this bad.” There’s a hint of desperation in the brit’s voice, something that Tord rarely has the pleasure of hearing. Tord unconsciously pushes his head harder against the door as his hearing picks up clothes shuffling around and another squeak of the bed. 

“Shouldn’t we do this in the bathroom though?” Edd suggested.

“Are you kidding? If we do it in the bathroom, everyone will wake up then.” Tom countered the brunette, “Besides, it won’t turn into a huge mess just as long as you’re gentle.”

Tord’s face heats up in a mess when the bed squeaks even more frequently, a sure sign of both Edd and Tom being on the former’s bed. There’s other noises that he can’t quite identify but he can make out some of Edd’s words of “Stay still”, “Doing good” and “Open wide”, which gets him even more heated. Tom’s resorted into making incomprehensible noises that Tord can only imagine the context behind and- 

Was that a moan he just heard?

“Is this it?” Edd asked with an inquisitive tone.

“Yeah, i-it’s that spot.” Tom said, his voice overlapping with whines and pants. “A-Ah, careful…!” 

“Right, right sorry Tom.” Edd hurriedly apologies again and after that, Tord can only hear pants and squeaks behind the door. Tom’s voice gradually increases in volume and- Oh yep. That’s a moan alright. 

“You’re doing great Tom, just a little deeper.” Edd coos to the brit, the latter whining back in response. Tord should really start heading back to bed before he scar himself with hearing Edd and Tom having a go at each other. “Stop moving, it’s gonna hurt if you do.” 

The bed creaked loudly in response and Tord’s thoughts are filled with memories of last night hentai marathon. Oh god, this sounds exactly like one of the hentai he saw.

“E-Edd…!” Tom keened with the most desperate tone Tord’s ever heard, and for a moment the Norwegian visualises the prideful Tom crying out with that desperation again. His entire face is probably red at this point and he’s starting to be aware of his own body demanding attention. 

By the time Edd’s room goes quiet, Tord had long gone to his room for some much needed relief.

* * *

Breakfast felt awfully awkward, Edd noted. Matt was still acting like he does, admiring himself in the mirror and munching on his cereal at the same time. Tom was impatiently waiting for the toaster to finish burning his toast and Tord was poking at his bacon idly, a dazed look in his eyes.

“Tord are you okay?” Edd asked, looking up from his bowl of cereal and furrowed his brows. “You’ve been quiet all morning.”

“Huh- Oh yeah I’m, I’m just fine.” Tord hastily assures, waving his hand at Edd. “Just a little tired.”

“Have you been overworking yourself again?” Edd asked and at Tord’s silence, he sent a flat look at the Norwegian. “Tord, I will start tying you down to your bed if you don’t sleep enough.”

“I’ve been sleeping enough, thank you very much.” Tord retorted, growing a mischievous grin. “I just couldn’t help but overhear how loud you and Tom were being last night.”

Edd stares at Tord bemusedly as the toaster goes off, a sharp ‘ding!’ ringing in the air. “Um… Last night?”

“Yes, last night.” Tord repeated with a nod, “Y-You know, when you said something about the bathroom..?”

“Oh!” The brunette realised with a sheepish smile that confuses Tord, “Right, did we wake you up?”

‘More like keep me up,’ Tord snarked internally but kept his mouth shut, instead opting to nod. 

“Sorry about that Tord, I hadn’t been expecting it to happen either.” Edd apologised, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

“Yes so,” Tord quickly glanced over his shoulder at Tom before leaning in closer to Edd’s ear, “How was the Jehovah witness?”

“Tom? He’s been doing alright.” Edd answered, oblivious to the implication Tord was suggesting “I mean, could’ve been better because he was really out of it yesterday night. All because he didn’t want to go to the dentist.”

Wait.

“The dentist?” Tord frowned in confusion, lifting his head up to stare at Edd. 

Edd nodded in confirmation, “Yeah, Tom was having a really bad toothache but he wouldn’t go to the dentist no matter what. It apparently got really unbearable last night so he asked me to help remove it for him.”

“But- I thought- Wait.” Tord sputtered, puzzlement filling his face. “What?”

“Tom asked me to help remove his tooth last night.” Edd repeated slowly, frowning at Tord. “What did you think we were doing?” The longer he stared at Tord, the more flustered the Norwegian became and the brunette realised. “Wow Tord.”

“You would’ve come to the same conclusion if all you heard was moaning!” Tord argued indignantly, folding his arms. 

“For the record, I was not moaning!” Tom yelled over his shoulder, sending Tord a glare. 

“Who was moaning?” Matt asked curiously, joining in the conversation.

“Tom was.” Tord immediately answered, grinning at Tom cheekily. 

“Was not!” The brit snapped, grabbing his toast as soon as it was done and threw the burnt bread at the Norwegian. “Stop projecting your hentai shit on me.”

“I mean, he’s not wrong. You were kind of moaning when I started to take it out.” Edd teased.

“Edd, don’t you start either.”


	8. See me now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When did this all start?

On Monday, Tom took Edd out to the arcade. 

A simple hangout, nothing more but apparently the people around him thought otherwise judging from the whispering behind his back. He didn’t know what exactly did they say but he could care less, it wasn’t like they impacted him in any ways. 

“Just ignore them, Tom.” Edd said to him when he saw the brit grimacing at a couple looking at him funny. “Let’s just play a game of shooters, yeah?”

“Sure, your pick Edd.” Tom numbly nodded, easily tearing his gaze away from the rude couple and followed his friend to another arcade machine. They had gotten far enough to reach into the top highscore board, though unfortunately not enough to be number one but the experience had been fun. The whisperings never stopped though, Tom would always glance over his shoulder in irritation as people kept muttering about the duo under their breath. 

Hadn’t they been told that talking behind people’s back was an asshole move?

\--- Zdnh xs Wrp ---

On Tuesday, Ringo came. 

Tom had been woken up by loud meowls that could’ve woken up the dead and found the grey kitten patiently waiting outside his door. 

“What are you doing here?” He frowned at the feline and glanced at Edd’s door. His brows rose more when he noticed Ringo’s bowl had been moved up to Matt’s door, and was very much empty. He grabbed a can of tuna from his fridge and dumped its content into Ringo’s bowl. “You’d think Edd would remember to feed you.”

If cats could give people weird looks, then Ringo was certainly giving him one for a moment. Tom ignored it, what significance does a cat giving weird looks at you even bring?

“You forgot to feed your cat.” Tom told his best friend when Edd came to hang out again, “She was practically scratching up my door just to get some tuna.” 

“She was?” Edd frowned and glanced at Ringo who was curled up comfortably on Tom’s couch. “I left food for her though.”

The brit recalled the bowl being pushed back at Matt’s door. “You think maybe Matt might’ve tried eating cat food?”

“Nah, he’s not that mindless.” Edd shook his head, “Thanks for feeding Ringo though.”

“Eh, it was nothing. Either I fed her or she’d keep scratching the door and I don’t really want to talk to the landlord about property damage again.” Tom shrugged though there was a hint of a smile on his face.

\--- Wklv lvq’w d wulfn ----

On Wednesday, Edd and Jon stopped by his apartment to rewatch the Vampire Pirate Zombie Nazi’s From Hell Part 2, the disc brought by the courtesy of Jon. 

Tom had been genuinely surprised when the latter had come over, Edd rarely talked to their ex-neighbours and when he did, it often escalated into some kind of cola vs diet cola argument between him and Eduardo. He’s not really sure why or how Edd got Jon to come over but he didn’t argue. He hasn’t seen the sequel to the Vampire Pirate Zombie Nazi’s From Hell Part 1 yet. 

“I’m telling you that the sequel is going to be amazing.” Edd rambled to Tom with a wide smile on his face. 

“It’s definitely easier to understand too.” Jon nodded, popping a popcorn in his mouth, “I mean, I know Eduardo was happy about having a nuclear powered satellite that catches tv shows from aliens, but it’s hard to get interested in a show that’s alien dubbed with no way of understanding it.” He paused and furrowed his brows, “Actually I don’t really know why he had the satellite nuclear powered.”

“Eh, he just wanted to show off.” Edd shrugged, shovelling a handful of popcorn in his mouth, “Besides, having superpowers for the day was fun though. Just wished I could’ve kept them.”

“Honestly Edd, if you kept superpowers you would’ve raided all the cola factories and drive the world into poverty just to sate your addiction to cola.” Tom admitted with a chuckle, flicking his flask open and taking a sip. 

“It’s not an addiction.” Edd grumbled, throwing popcorn at Tom and cackled in glee when one got into his socket, inciting a panicked cry from the brit. Even Jon joined in laughing at Tom’s misery as the male did his best to get the rogue popcorn out. 

“You asshole.” Tom eventually managed to retrieve the popcorn and flicked it back at Edd. “Those burns, you know?”

“They weren’t even hot.” Jon pointed out. He was answered with a flick and a shush. When the movie is over, Edd and Jon take their leave and Tom is left by his lonesome again. He idly notes that Jon forgot his DVD. Eh, he’ll go return it tomorrow. 

\--- Ph dqg Mrq ---

On Thursday, Tom went to the neighbors to return Jon’s disc.

“They don’t actually live that far away. They actually live in the same apartment complex we’re in.” Edd said to him when the eyeless brit asked him about Jon’s new home with Eduardo and Mark. “Just be careful though. Eduardo seems… less happy.” The brunette adds in with a concerned frown. 

“It’s not like he’s not like that anyway.” Tom scoffed. Technically he wasn’t wrong. Eduardo was always a moody man. He just underestimated how furious the man was. 

Tom smiled just a little when a familiar ringtone played when he pressed the doorbell and quickly pushed it away when Eduardo’s frown greeted him. 

“What do you want?” Eduardo demanded with a testy tone. “And if you don’t spit it out in five seconds, I’ll slam the door in your face.”

Tom promptly held up the DVD case to Eduardo’s face. “Here, Jon left this behind yesterday. Figured he’d want it back.”

The case is snatched out of his grip almost immediately, inciting a surprised “Hey!” and Eduardo staring down at the case with a mixed expression. 

Eduardo snaps his head up to Tom’s face, looking down at him with a suspicious glare, “Where did you get this? Did you break into our apartment?”

“What- No.” Tom quickly defended, folding his arms. “I told you already, didn’t I? Jon brought it over yesterday and I came to give it back.”

Next thing he knows, Eduardo slugs him across the face and sends him crashing to the floor. The brit barely registers someone yanking on the neck of his hoodie and bringing him close up to Eduardo’s enraged face, until he finally does notice. 

“Is this some sick prank you’re trying to pull, huh?” Eduardo growled, his voice dropping down to a low and dangerous tone. “Or are you trying to break us even more?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about..!” Tom replied with a pained hiss, grabbing Eduardo’s arm and shoving the male off him with some effort. “What the hell has gotten into you?”

Instead of replying, Eduardo slams the door shut in front of Tom and left the confused brit to his own thoughts. 

“Rude.”

\--- Zh’uh erwk vwloo khuh ---

On Friday, Matt knocked on his door. 

The ginger looked rather messy, disheveled hair and dry eyed - the picture of a total mess. 

“Uh Matt, are you alright?” Tom asked, wide eyed at the ginger’s appearance. “You look like a mess.”

“I- Um, yeah. I’m alright, for now.” Matt nodded, his voice lacking the usual optimism which sent red flags to Tom’s head. “I just finished arranging everything, you know.”

“Arranging what?” Tom repeated with increasing confusion and rubbed his temples. “Matt, if this is another nightmare about the giant burrito monster, go to Edd about it. He actually knows how to comfort you.”

Instead of a pleased expression, Matt’s face gradually became fearful as he stared at Tom with a strange look. “... Tom? Are you okay?”

“Um, I’m fine?” Tom furrowed his brows. “What’ve you been arranging?”

The ginger flinches from Tom, causing more confusion from the brit. “I thought you knew about this.”

 

“Care about what? You’re making no sense, Matt. Just tell me what’s this about already.” When Matt doesn’t meet his eyes, the brit started to feel irritated and narrowed his sockets at Matt. “Matt. What’s going on?”

“Tom, Edd’s funeral is tomorrow.”

\--- Qr rqh zdv oblqj ---

On Friday, Tom attends Edd’s funeral. 

There were a lot of people there, familiar faces mixed in the sea of black and grey clothes with each looking so solemn. Tom’s not surprised that there’s so many people, Edd was always a people person who connected them all. Except for one, but that One was nowhere to be seen. 

Matt’s standing on the podium, reading out a speech Tom could not hear. Or perhaps he couldn’t because he wouldn’t listen to a word. It was all mumbo jumbo to his ears and he was content with that. His only focus was the coffin that was behind Matt, containing the body of his best friend that he thought was alive all this time. 

“I’m sorry.” Edd’s voice whispered to his ear.

“When were you going to tell me?” Tom muttered quietly, not bothering to break his gaze on the coffin. 

Edd doesn’t answer him, and Tom can’t bring it in himself to yell at the voice for answer. Besides, voices in your head don’t just tell you when they’re fake.   
“It makes so much more sense now.” The brit whispered to himself as he watches Matt stepping down from the podium. All eyes are on the coffin now, watching the lid shut tight to hide the body inside and lowering it down to the earth. His eyes flickered over to the gravestone beside Edd’s and he almost flinches at the name inscribed on it.

May Edd and Jon rest in peace.

\--- L’p vwloo khuh zlwk brx ---

On Saturday, Edd comes back. 

Apparently Tom’s mind hadn’t had enough fun getting a kick out of him. 

“Tom-”

“Go away.” Tom growled, a bottle of Smirnoff in his hand. 

“Tom this isn’t healthy.” 

“Hearing you in my head isn’t healthy either, so this is really just fixing the problem.” The brit can hear the sigh from Edd.

“I’m not fake Tom.” Definitely-Fake-Edd insisted, walking up to in front of Tom’s face and gesturing at himself. “Look, I’m standing here and all! I’m not some disembodied voice you get in your head.”

“You’re right,” Tom agreed, which brings a smile to Definitely-Fake-Edd, “I’m actually hallucinating you instead.”

The smile dies instantly and Edd’s back to begging for Tom to talk to him. “Tom please- I’m real, I’m here. I’m not fake.”

“That’s what the hundred disembodied voices in my head says.” The brit snarled, glaring at Definitely-Fake-Edd. “Just leave me alone already. I don’t need another person to hallucinate about.” 

\--- L zdv dozdbv uhdo ---

It’s… He doesn’t know what day it is by now. He’s drunk so much that the world is spinning and blurring together, and he’s pretty sure his rent is due soon but he has no money to pay for it. 

Matt’s been knocking on his door, checking up on him when Edd isn’t around. 

Oh wait, technically he isn’t. It’s the imaginary voice (and hallucination) that claims to be Edd that’s hanging around him. He should call that Fake Edd. Yes, that sounded appropriate. 

“You promised not to drink excessively.” 

Tom blankly blinked in brief confusion, tilting his head up to see Ed- Fake Edd looking down at him with a disapproving frown. “I promised Edd that. Not you, Fake Edd.”

“Are you still doing this?” Fake Edd groaned, annoyance on his face. 

“I thought I told you to go away last time.” Tom retorted irritatedly. And he did, he clearly remembers telling Fake Edd to go away so many times. Not once had the hallucination obeyed. Neither did Edd when he was alive. 

He wishes Fake Edd would hurry up and leave him alone already. 

\--- L zrq’w ohdyh brx ---

It’s twelve in the afternoon when Tom finds himself heaving over the toilet bowels.

Vomit drips past his lips and doesn’t spare him any mercy as more continues to flood his throat, and Tom struggles not to drown in his own puke. Fake Edd is standing behind him, rubbing his back so reassuringly and Tom could swear that he could feel the brunette’s hand on his hoodie. 

“Just let it all out.” Edd said to him as his hand draws circles on the brit’s back. 

Tom just continues to puke out his inside. 

\--- L zrq’w xqwlo ---

It’s Thursday when Matt takes Tom to see a therapist. 

The therapist was a somewhat familiar face, Doctor Names. Not officially a therapist but he knew Tom well enough to be one, sort of. Honestly, Tom doesn’t really know the laws regarding therapists and their jobs but he’ll take Names over any other strangers. 

“So Tom,” Names looked up at him from his clipboard, “Matt said that you’ve been talking to yourself. Could you fill me in your side of the issue?”

Tom leans back on the chair he’s sitting on, letting his head rest against the corner of the backseat. “I keep seeing Edd. He won’t leave me alone.” He lets the noise of pen scribbling on paper fill the air for a while until he continues speaking, “I know this Edd’s fake. It’s just my mind playing tricks on me. I know Edd is…” A gulp. “Gone.”

“So you know the voice is false, but it continues to exist?” Names asked, tapping his pen on his clipboard. 

“Yeah,” Tom nodded slowly, “Been telling it to go away for so long.”

“Is the voice talking to you now at the moment?” Tom sat in silence for ten seconds before shaking his head, “Alright, last question for today. Do you remember when this started happening?” 

Tom opens his mouth to answer briefly before realisation dawned on him. 

When DID it actually start?

\--- Brx duh rndb ---

It’s Tuesday and Fake Edd still lived in his head. 

He’s been prescribed with medicine that he personally thought didn’t have any actual effect. Probably a placebo medicine, he bitterly thought. He took them anyway though, to keep people’s concerns off from him and to also maybe believe in that wishful hope that the Fake Edd would disappear.

“You ever thought about not drinking for at least two days?” Fake Edd asked from the other side of his couch. 

No. The thought never occurred to him ever and he would never consider it either. He flips the bird at Fake Edd and drinks his consciousness away again. 

\--- Brx duh vdih ---

Sunday swings by and Tom wakes up in a cell. 

It looks like one of those prison cells, dark, dingy and overall shitty. There’s chains wrapped around his wrists and ankles, shackling him to the wall furthest from the door. Ordinarily, he’d be busting his ass out of this cell already but currently his entire body felt like lead and would definitely not move for a while. 

Occasionally he’d spy a couple of people walk past his cell, whispering to each other but nothing he could make out. At the back of his head, there’s a thought screaming about the red and blue uniform the passersby wear but he could honestly not care at all. 

Fake Edd is sitting beside him, a concerned frown on his face. “I tried to stop them.”

‘Stop who?’ is the question that hangs at the tip of Tom’s tongue but never quite comes out. 

Fake Edd had probably read his mind because he was already answering Tom, “The people who took you here. I don’t know them though.”

If Fake Edd didn’t know them, then Tom probably wouldn’t then either. A hallucination couldn’t’ know what the hallucinator didn’t know, after all. 

\--- L dp brxu ehvw iulhqg ---

It’s a few days later that Tom finally finds a face he recognises. 

Tord in all his glory stands before the brit behind the cell’s bars, one grey eye staring down at him with a raised brow. “I had assumed Matt was exaggerating when he said you were going crazy.”

“Depends on the level of crazy he was talking about.” Tom idly commented, tearing his gaze from Fake Edd who had not once left him alone. 

“You’ve been talking to ‘Edd’.” Tord scoffs at Tom’s surprised look that comes after. “Please, do you think I would leave you under no surveillanced? After going through the trouble of capturing you?” 

Ah. That’s how they get here then. Wait- No, just him. Just Tom. 

“Back to the point, I thought you’d be stronger than this Thomas.” Tord commented with a snide tone. “Was all it took to break you was his death?” Tom doesn’t answer him. “Well, do not think that I’ll be treating you any special just because you’re the one who had a lucky shot at me.”

“A lucky shot that managed to cripple half of you.” Tom pointed out passively, his eyes sliding shut as he recalled the harpoon he fired on that day. 

“Yes, and I had hoped to return the favour.” Tord replied curtly and tsked, “Obviously I was already late to the crippling part.”

“I can still kick your ass.”

“In your dreams.”

Tom stops speaking after that and eventually Tord leaves him alone. 

\--- Brx zrq’w eh dorqh ---

Tom starts speaking to Fake Edd again which makes the brunette ecstatic. The boredom is killing him and he starts wondering about who is feeding Ringo back at home. Maybe Matt is, but knowing the ginger’s airheadedness, he was probably eating the cat’s food instead. 

Maybe he should ask Tord to check up on the grey kitten.

\--- Wkh fdw’v hbh fdq’w vhh ---

Tom wakes up with a weight on his face. 

“What’s this?” He mumbled out, reaching up to his face with his hand and felt a metal rectangular object resting stiffly on his eyes. Further inspection told him that it was covering his entire upper face - his eyes specifically - and strapped around his head. A visor perhaps?

“Your new solution.” Tord’s voice breaks through his sleepiness. “Have fun being alone again.” 

Tom looks around in his cell and for the first time since he’s been captured, he doesn’t see Fake Edd anywhere in sight. The corner of his lips curl up into a small smile but there’s an ache in his chest that he couldn’t quite identify. 

Tom brushes it off and decides to savour his first day of silence. 

\--- Exw ghprq hbhv fdq ---

He hates it.

The silence is crippling and Tom crying out, trying to claw the visor off his head. 

He had been wrong to ignore the ache. It had gotten so much more bigger, more harmful and so much more noticeable. People stopped walking past his cell to ignore the howling screams he was making and occasionally the guards would come to yell at him to shut up.

He can’t though, he’s never been alone even when he thought he was and now there’s no Edd to talk to him, comfort him and just interact with. There’s Tom and only Tom in that dark, dingy cell with no one to talk to or to even think about except for Edd. 

He misses Edd so much. 

\--- Wrp L’p khuh ---

It’s a week later that Tord revisits Tom. 

“Are you done throwing a tantrum?” Tord asked. The man had finally come down to his cell when there were reports of Tom’s silence. No sobs, no sniffling and not even a whine. Just pure silence that would indicate either Tom finally coming to terms with his solution or that he escaped. He could definitely rule out the latter since he was standing right in front of the brit.

“I want this off.” Tom plainly states, green pixel eyes staring at the Norwegian.

“That would be setting you back then.” Tord frowned. 

“Don’t care. I want this off now.” Tom repeated with a tone of finality. 

“I don’t think you’re in the place to demand things. You forget who’s the leader here.” Tord said, his voice shifting to a warning one. “Besides, I have plans for you and letting you go back to talking to a ghost is not one of them.”

Tom grimaces and the two don’t exchange words again for the remainder of the day. 

He still misses Edd.

\--- Wrp ---

On Monday, Tom stopped asking Tord to take his goggles off. 

\--- Wlph’v ---

On Wednesday, Tom asked Tord to fix his goggles so it’d stop glitching. 

\--- Xs ---

On Friday, Tom doesn’t bring up Edd anymore.

\--- Jrrgebh ---

On Sunday, Tom hesitantly removed his goggles and looks out of his cell with his own eyes. 

He doesn’t see Edd anywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got a bit indulgey but shush. Kudos to anyone who's able to decipher the nonsense.


	9. Mirror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A mirror that shows you your future. Obviously you must be doing well in the future right?

“You know, we should come here more often.” Edd cheerfully remarked offhandedly as he held up a crystal ball in his hand, careful not to drop the fragile merchandise. “I mean, remember the cool sword I got here?”

“Yeah you destroyed the door with it.” Tom reminded passively, idly looking at one of the shelves filled with an assortments of trinkets. He was secretly hoping to find another box full of donuts, because the previous one was great until it got stolen by some mysterious mirror woman that Tom could’ve swore resembled Edd.

“Hey guys, look what I found!” Matt yelled cheerfully, prompting the other two to look at him. The ginger grinned happily as he held up a silver ornate mirror in his hand, “Don’t I look absolutely stunning? Can we get this please?”

“As always.” Edd muttered almost mechanically, rolling his eyes with a snort. “I don’t know Matt, it looks pretty antique and not to mention- Hey Barry, what’s the price on this?” He glanced over to the store owner while jabbing a thumb at the mirror.

At hearing his name, Barry Black leaned over the countertop and stared at the mirror in Matt’s hand, “That? Well that’s a special mirror you picked up there. Legend says that it’ll show your future, or at least the guy I bought it off said that.”

“Does it actually?” Edd asked, eyes widening a bit in curiousity.

“No idea really but I know it shows people a reflection.” Barry admitted sheepishly, leaning on the palm of his hand, “Sometimes it shows you your future, sometimes it shows you another version of yourself. It’s a very quirky mirror that never really works right, and customers tend to avoid it for what may be seen on the other side.”

While Edd and Barry discussed the mirror’s characteristics, Matt kept admiring himself in the mirror and leaned closer and closer to the reflective surface. Until he gradually noticed how his skin seemed to turn stark white as paper, his ears becoming pointed, and his eyes turning red and yellow. Two fangs protruded from his upper lips, his hair became more spiky until it stood high up like Tom’s hair. Matt stares at his reflection with growing confusion and concern when his vampire lookalike began to grin unsettlingly at the ginger before-

Matt doesn’t recognise the man in the mirror anymore. He tore his gaze from the frightening reflection and all but ran up to Edd, “U-Um Edd? Let’s not get the mirror.”

Edd snapped his head at Matt’s direction, a brow raised with concern, “What happened?”

“The mirror was showing me one moment but then all the sudden it changed into some-” Matt pursed his lips as he tried to recall the unsettling image he had seen in the mirror, “Some.. Vampire version of me.”

At hearing this, Edd’s brow furrowed deeply as a particular memory struck his head. He remembered how one night Matt had temporarily turned into a vampire, and tried to suck their blood before. Matt never fully remembered the whole incident but he didn’t think the effects were still there. The artist shifted his gaze down to the mirror, hoping to see what Matt had seen. Unfortunately, the mirror seemed to have turned back to normal for the only thing Edd could see were Matt’s and his own faces.

“Huh. Hey, let me have a go with it, Matt.” Edd offered, fingers grasping around the silver handle as Matt passed the mirror to the brunette. He stared at the mirror hard for a while, waiting for any changes to occur.

At first nothing happens and Edd starts wondering if maybe Matt was seeing things, until he notices two faint objects behind his back. It looked distinctly like wings and he could almost make out a halo above his head. A metallic shine caught his eye and Edd’s gaze travels down to his reflection’s chest where a chain link was attached, trailing down to beyond the mirror’s boundary. Edd stared at the mirror with furrowed brows, his reflection doing the same… Until it winked at him.

\--- Ehzduh ri wkh eodfn srlvrq ---

“Huh?” Edd could only blink at his reflection blankly when a disembodied voice played in his head. His counterpart held a finger up to his mouth in a shushing gesture before fading away from the mirror, leaving nothing to look back at Edd. “Hey wait!”

“What’re you guys checking there?” Tom asked boredly, walking up to Edd and Matt when he heard Edd’s outburst. He spared a glance at the mirror in Edd’s hand and snickered, “Matt got you into admiring yourself too?”

“Wha- No. Matt’s the only narcissistic one out of us all to do that, Tom.” Edd argued, turning around to look at Tom and held up the mirror, “Apparently this mirror shows people who they exactly are but Barry says it’s also kind of faulty because it shows people as something else completely different even though they aren’t that.”

“Really now.” Tom wondered with an intrigued look. Edd nodded before he tilted the mirror to be in Tom’s direction to show the eyeless brit what he meant. The eyeless brit took ahold of the ornate mirror, staring at his reflection blandly.

“Well?” Matt said after a moment of silence passed.

“... I’m not seeing any-” There was a soft but startled gasp from Tom as he flinched away from the mirror, dropping the object in the process. There was a dull thud as the mirror struck the ground, a light crack in the air when the reflective surface was damaged, an unstable line running across it.

“Tom?” Whatever the mirror had shown him, it had been clearly enough to make the blue hoodie male shaken. “Are you alright?”

Tom wanted to say no he’s not okay, he’s anything but okay after seeing that insufferable grin. He looked up at Edd and Matt’s worried eyes, and swallowed whatever word was about to creep out of his throat before speaking up, “Y-Yeah I’m fine. Just had a really weird moment.”

“What’d you see?” Edd asked, tucking his hands in his hoodie pockets.

The brit pursed his lips for a moment to think over his answer before replying, “A really bad sitcom that’s disguised as some quality content, and we’re the only actors in it.”

“Tom.”

“Hey, you have no idea how bad that’d be!” Tom argued.

Edd threw his hands up in the air and huffed, “Fine, don’t tell me then. Keep it to yourself, it’s your future that’s being shown after all.”

Tom scoffed under his breath, watching Edd and Matt’s back as they left the store and struggled the urge to not hide them away in somewhere they wouldn’t be found by a certain someone and at the same time, keep them as sane as possible. He eyed at the mirror on the ground and glared at it with narrowed sockets.

What the hell would happen to cause a future where he’d be working with Tord willingly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You know you guys still need to pay for property damage?"


End file.
